NEWBURY PARK : Library to House Genealogical Items

Emma Lee Price jokes that the No. 1 rule for people who are tracing their ancestral roots is to “search for royalty and horse thieves, witches and outlaws” because the records on those people have been kept for centuries.

Such searches are expected to gain visibility when the new Newbury Park branch library opens Saturday with a separate genealogy room.

For the first time in its 11-year history, the Conejo Valley Genealogical Society will have an enclosed area in the library for its collection of books, periodicals, microfiche and computers.

The Newbury Park branch of the Thousand Oaks Library, in a former Ralphs supermarket at 2331 Borchard Road, is scheduled to celebrate its grand opening from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday.

The 31,000-square-foot facility, which cost the city $4 million, will open with 18,000 volumes and a small collection of video and audiotapes.

The genealogical materials--the most extensive collection in Ventura County--will make up the new library’s special collection.

“This is actually going to give a lot of recognition to the Genealogical Society and will build more interest in genealogy,” said Price, president of the 250-member organization. “I think it’s a beautiful library, and we’re fortunate to have the facilities.”

Although such materials have been housed at the Thousand Oaks Library since 1982, they have not been clearly designated nor grouped together.

The genealogical collection has grown from 347 volumes in 1986 to 3,000. It includes atlases and gazettes, how-to books, biographies and family histories, immigration records, ships’ passenger lists, surname registers (including one produced by the Conejo Valley Genealogical Society) and genealogies categorized by state.

Price, who became a genealogy buff in 1982, has traced her roots as far back as the time of William the Conqueror. She says some residents have discovered that they are descendants of King Edward I and Charlemagne. And two society members discovered that they had common ancestors.